Falling Through Nightmare
by SilverLocke980
Summary: (LAST CHAPTER UP!)As Siegfried, trapped in the mind of Nightmare, tries to stop Inferno's attempt to recreate the broken Soul Edge, Ivy, Kilik, and Sophitia follow behind. But can Seigfried be saved and returned to Ivy's arms?
1. Default Chapter

LEGALITIES: NEITHER I (SILVERLOCKE980) NOR KAIKA OWN SOUL CALIBER I OR II, NOR DO WE OWN ANY CHARACTERS THEREOF. NAMCO OWNS THE RIGHTS. THIS DISCLAIMER IS MEANT FOR EVERY CHAPTER WITHIN THIS FANFIC AND THE WORK AS A WHOLE.  
  
[]- Indicates thought. Goes for the fanfic as a whole as well.  
  
Hello again, loyal fanfiction.net readers. This is a little different from my usual fanfics- in that it isn't entirely my own. Presenting (drum roll please) KAIKA! Kaika will be co-authoring this story with me. She's a good friend of mine, and so we decided to make this Soul Caliber fanfic together. This will probably spell the end of our friendship, but what the hell.  
  
Here's Chapter 1, of Falling Through Nightmare.  
  
(And as Roger of Big O says...)  
  
  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
Tales of Eternity  
  
Falling Through Nightmare  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
Imprisonment  
  
The monster stood on top of a cliff, gazing at the wooded valley below him. Sunlight from the afternoon sun lay bright on the lush green of the pine forest, and the cliff face (steep, but not so steep that an agile man couldn't make his way down) was scattered with green across it's brown and white rock face. A herd of mountain goats were busy eating their way up the mountain.  
  
The monster took in none of this (except for possible ambush points, because one could never be too careful). His blue armor covered all his body except for his right arm. This latter was a hideous mutation, more a claw than a hand. In it, an enormous sword that resembled a meat cleaver was held, the tip resting on the ground. A single, bloated eye opened and shut seemingly at random, casting manic glances all around. The entire sword was a brownish color- the color of dried blood.  
  
The face itself was mostly hidden by his helm, but out from the corners one could make out hair (hair that once, long ago, had been blonde and was now gray). Inside the helm burned twin coals of hellfire.  
  
The monstrosity known as Nightmare was still, an aberration on an otherwise beautiful landscape. Although the figure was silent, in it's head a battle raged across a stormy darkness. The combatants were two minds, one the mind of the Soul Edge, the mind of Inferno. The other belonged to a human man-  
  
a man named Siegfried.  
  
*Damn you, Siegfried!* Inferno's voice, raspy and hellish, rang out in the darkness of Siegfried's tormented mind. The voice carried an undertone of madness that promised pain to those who crossed it. *Why will you not just die?*  
  
Siegfried himself didn't know why either. All he knew was that he had a special place within his mind, a place Inferno couldn't touch. He had been given a chance, a chance to atone. He didn't know if a patricide like himself had any chance of redemption, but he had to try.  
  
Siegfried knew, however, that whatever strange force had spared him, that it couldn't protect him outside his bastion. He retreated to it- in his mind's eye, it appeared to be his room in the fort his father had built, back before the taint of the Soul Edge had entered his mind. It was simply but lovingly furnished. A red four-post bed decorated the far corner, and the door he had just entered (that's the way it was in here- one moment he was a formless entity, the next he was in human form) was made of stout oak, with iron bracings. He heard Inferno's mind slam the door, but it held. It barely shook as Inferno vented his rage on it.  
  
The room was stone like all the fort was (had been, Siegfried reminded himself) and chandeliers lit the walls. A dresser for his clothing was seated to the left of the door, and a rack of weapons and armor finished the decorations. On the rack lay Requiem, the sword he'd used when he thought he'd broken free. The sword he'd had when he'd met Ivy.  
  
[Don't go down that road,] he bitterly thought to himself. [You know what's down it.]  
  
But, as helpless to stop it as a fawn is to stop the wolf, he was swept away in memory....  
  
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England. Land of the kings. A land that had recently come under some great trouble. A creature called Voldo (whom Siegfried had met once, as Nightmare) had taken up residence in an old castle, attempting to use the black magic of the castle's former owner to revive his master. Siegfried had went after him as soon as he heard. His quest to atone for his sins had carried him here.  
  
He had been traveling from a small English town on a country road, watching the rolling hills of England pass by. It wasn't the forests of Germany, but it was still quite pretty. Requiem slung across his back, he had been enjoying the walk. Soon he came to a fork in the road. A young woman stood at the crossing, and from her dress (and the sword she carried) Siegfried thought that she was probably a mercenary. Her outfit was odd (and a little titillating, part of his mind added) but he could see how it would offer her freedom of movement, which would be very important to a smaller, weaker fighter. Siegfried himself was wearing his plate mail. He knew he was slow, and figured that he might as well take his licks.  
  
When he got there, she turned towards his footsteps, right hand touching her sword. He put out one of his hands to ward off attack.  
  
" Hold on, ma'am," he said, putting his right hand on Requiem's hilt just in case. The massive sword's weight shifted slightly as he moved it to a more comfortable and battle-ready position. " I'm not looking for a fight. And I'm honorable too, if you know what I mean."  
  
She half-smirked at this, and her hand dropped from her sword's hilt- but not very far. " Yes, I quite understand," she spoke, her accent British. Her hair (which had looked white from afar but on closer inspection was light purple) swayed as she tilted her head. " Are you German?"  
  
He nodded. Accents were wonderful for telling you who people were. " And you're British, correct?"  
  
That half-smirk again. [God], Siegfried thought, [She's beautiful]. Wrenching his mind back with an effort, he asked what was on his mind.  
  
" Are you heading after Voldo?" he said.  
  
Instantly her face tightened and grew wary. Her hand, which had been drooping loosely at her side, jumped back to her sword hilt. " Maybe. What business is it of yours?"  
  
Putting his hand out again, Siegfried continued. " I'm after him too. I was just asking. Not something to lose your temper over." He found himself getting angry with her. What the hell was she doing?  
  
" Then if you're after him, you want the reward," she said, her eyes still wary (and, Siegfried noted with concern, her hand was still on her sword). " Right?"  
  
Siegfried nodded. Even though atonement was his main concern, he did have to eat. He decided on a half-truth to put her mind to rest. " Yeah. But that's not the only reason. I want him dead for personal reasons."  
  
Ivy nodded. Revenge was quite common in this world. " I'm after the reward as well. But, like you, I have... personal business with him."  
  
Siegfried, working on an impulse, said the first thing to hit his mind. " What if we join up?"  
  
She looked at him from the corner of her eye, her face partially turned away. Siegfried noted that, although still wary, she had relaxed somewhat.  
  
" What about the reward?"  
  
Siegfried shrugged. " I just need enough to eat on. Hell, let me have a quarter of the reward and I'll be fine. Besides, if he really is dabbling in black magic, it's not going to be pleasant for a single person, is it?"  
  
Another half-smirk. " No, probably not. I'm an Alchemist, but even so, I don't like dealing with magic."  
  
Siegfried raised an eyebrow. " Alchemist?"  
  
Ivy nodded, and he saw something light up in her eyes. She apparently liked this topic. " Alchemists like myself seek to merge the two greatest Disciplines of this world- Science on one hand, and Psi on the other. We seek to make them meet as one. My sword itself is a creation of alchemy." She demonstrated by pulling the sword out, and then snapping it. The blade flew apart into segmented links and sliced into a tree several feet away, causing sap to ooze out of the cut. The links remade a sword as she snapped it back. Siegfried was impressed, and she must have seen it on his face, because a small smile came onto her face. " It's my own little masterpiece. I call it the Snake Sword."  
  
He nodded his head. " Damn. That is something. I'm not much myself, just a hungry mercenary." And that was true. Neither Science, the study of the material world, nor Psi, the study of the mind and what realities it could create, were his strong suit.  
  
She shrugged. " It takes all kinds. What's your name?"  
  
" Siegfried," he said.  
  
" My name's Ivy," she replied. Suddenly hit with a bout of shyness, she said, " Uh... this is embarassing, but do you know which way to go?"  
  
Chuckling, he nodded. " Yeah. This way." He pointed towards the left path.  
  
They walked down the path together, talking of where they were from, what they were hoping to do...  
  
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Siegfried snapped out of the memories of his time with Ivy. It had seemed like eternity- all spring and light and warmth, a burning brand against the dark, a stand in the rain.   
  
He shook his head to clear it. It was over now, and that was for the better. Inferno hated him, and he would kill Ivy in a heartbeat just to get back at Siegfried for existing within his mind, like a cancer.  
  
Siegfried supposed he could complain that it was over (and rant and rave at all creation while he was at it) but for some reason he couldn't. He was simply happy he had been able to experience it, even if for only a little while.  
  
He looked up, from his sitting position on the bed. If for nothing else, he had to stop this monster for her. For Ivy.  
  
He stood up. He couldn't do much but slow him down, but by God, he meant to slow him down all he could. Sophitia and Kilik were behind him and Inferno, and if they caught up they could kill Inferno in his physical form as Nightmare. That it would kill Siegfried was probable, but he didn't care. If he did die, it would be an atonement for his sins, many as they were.  
  
[Last time pays for all,] he thought as he opened the door and hurled his consciousness against the gestalt of evil that was Inferno.  
  
On the mountain, the figure of Nightmare stopped once more.  
  
- The next chapter is Kaika's. We'll be alternating chapters, so I'll be back in Chapter Three (and Five, and Seven, and...). If you like my stuff, read my other two stories: Deeping Dream (Darkstalkers) and Harry's Madness (Harry Potter)! 


	2. Trailing a Dream

Wow. My experience with other fanfics has led me to believe that the vast majority (I'd say 80% or more) of fanfiction.net readers have absolutely NO control over the English language. I figured that Soul Caliber fans would be in this majority (it's a fighting game, after all). I can't believe the reviews I've gotten; you guys have reaffirmed my faith in the human race (points gun away from forehead). You people are wonderful.  
  
This is Chapter 2. Unfortunately, for personal reasons, my good friend Kaika will not be writing any chapters of her own. This would have been her first one in the story. However, she is working behind the scenes as an advisor. She's the one who came up with this idea in the first place; we've all suffered a loss without her stellar writing.  
  
And many of you, after reading Ivy's "Alchemy" lines, were probably scratching your head and wondering what was going on. Well, I don't use Magic in my fanfics (except as a force for evil) and instead I use Psi. Psi comes from the mind of the user and requires no words at all. Everyone has their own personal Psi, which stems from their soul. Psi, alongside Science, is considered a "Great Discipline". There are seven Disciplines in all. The sixth Discipline, Magic, is considered the "Fell Discipline".  
  
This chapter will focus on Ivy, Sophitia, and Kilik. You will notice the lack of accents, mostly due to the fact that it is very hard to write accents and not make the characters sound stupid. The chapters will switch off between Siegfried and Nightmare on one end, and Sophitia, Kilik, and Ivy on the other.  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
Trailing a Dream  
  
Kilik looked about himself on the prow of the ship. They were sailing into mainland Europe now, at a port town in Spain. The merchant ship they had booked passage on rolled gently with the waves. Ahead of them, the harbor of the town beckoned, it's piers extending far out into the waters. A medium-sized city lay behind it, smoke pouring cheerily from the chimneys of the houses alongside it's cobblestone road. It had taken them several months, journeying from China, to get here, and Kilik could scarcely believe he was finally looking at land again. To the Tibetan monk, it had seemed like they had been on the ocean for forever.  
  
[ At least the trip wasn't any shorter for Nightmare,] Kilik thought.  
  
Turning from the prow, his loose outfit swirling in the sea breeze, he regarded Sophitia, who stood on the prow. The Greek warrior had her sword tucked in, but still held onto her shield with her right hand, holding it in front. Her blue dress, covering the chain mail underneath, swirled about her. The sailors gave her a wide berth. Kilik grinned as he remembered why.  
  
It had been about two weeks into the trip when a lustful sailor had suddenly become taken with Sophitia. None of the crew had approached Ivy at all; they were scared to death of the strange Englishwoman. They had apparently decided Sophitia was a more proper target for their affections.  
  
They couldn't have been more wrong.  
  
The sailor had, in his usual tactless manner, approached Sophitia from behind. Sophitia, who had mostly ignored the sailors, didn't notice him until he was right behind her. Reaching up to her breasts, he had grabbed them and announced loudly, " Oh, nice and firm! Just the way-"  
  
He never finished the sentence. Sophitia had back-handed him with her shield and broken his nose. Out like a flash, gleaming brightly in the sun, her sword had then sliced the offending sailor's entire face off. Delivering a horizontal stroke, she had cut him in half. Although the captain had said he'd drop them off at the next port and charge them with murder for killing one of his sailors, Sophitia had told him that it would be his head next time, and that she'd kill every sailor onboard and swim to Europe if she had too. The captain had backed down, but every night one of the three warriors stood guard, to make sure the sailors wouldn't attempt anything. None of them did; Sophitia had moved faster than any warrior they had ever seen before, and none were anxious to test out the power of her friends.  
  
Sophitia's eyes, almost always hard, had softened when she looked at Europe, her homeland. A sigh escaped her lips. She turned around to wake up Ivy, who had stood guard last night and was now sleeping.  
  
Inside her room, oblivious to the outside world, Ivy tossed and turned on her bed. Her sword, responsive to her emotions, had unlinked itself and writhed about on the desk beside her, moving like a snake.  
  
A single word passed Ivy's lips:  
  
" Siegfried..."  
  
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They had walked the road north to Voldo's castle until sunset, and then had made a little campfire. Siegfried had a small handaxe he used to chop kindling, and there was a fallen tree nearby that he hacked into usable logs with Requiem. He hated dulling the sword like that, but he'd have a night to sharpen it anyway.  
  
Ivy, for her part, had set about making them supper. She had been carrying a few bottles of water and a small kettle, and she now used these to prepare some boiling water. To it, she added some meat and vegetables she'd found. As it was cooking, Siegfried found a handy rock and moved it towards the fire. Sitting down, he took out his sharpener, laid Requiem on his leg, and began sharpening it.  
  
Ivy watched him as she stirred the soup.  
  
" Nice sword," she said. " But doesn't it weigh too much to really be any use?"  
  
Siegfried shook his head. " Not really. It's balanced pretty well, and I've trained to use it my whole life." He continued sharpening his immense blade. " Besides, like my father always said..."  
  
He stopped talking suddenly, head drooping. God. He'd forgotten all about his father. Frederick. Killed by his own hands. He could blame it on Nightmare, but Siegfried would always feel guilt and blame himself for his father's death.  
  
Ivy, noticed his sudden change, cautiously asked, " Siegfried?" She worried that maybe her new companion was either a nutcase, or had some strange disease.  
  
" It's nothing," he said, and then, since it was obviously something, " I'd forgotten that my father is dead. He was... killed a year ago."  
  
Two emotions warred in Ivy's mind: relief he wasn't a nutcase and sympathy for his loss. She herself knew how painful the loss of a parent was.  
  
[Even if he isn't your real father,] a mental voice spoke.  
  
" I'm sorry," she said, not knowing how to proceed. " It's... hard, isn't it? I lost my father too."  
  
He looked at her, and a weak smile appeared on his face.  
  
" Yeah, it's hard. Sorry to do that. I've ruined the evening mood."  
  
She half-smirked at that, and checked the soup. While they were talking, it had finished cooking.  
  
" Well, here's supper," she said, taking out a small wooden bowl. " But I don't know what you'll eat out of."  
  
From a small pack on the back of his waist, Siegfried produced a bowl. Regaining some of his good humor, he said, " Probably this, I figure."  
  
Smirking once more, she ladled out some of the soup. For awhile there were only the sounds of eating as they finished their soup in silence. After they were done, Siegfried sat back and said, " Good soup. My compliments."  
  
Ivy nodded, and then grew very self-conscious. Her life had not prepared her for this. Growing up, she was segregated from others because of her rank and studies. And now that she was gronw up, she was used to traveling alone, and had no idea what to say now, with night spreading its velvet wings all around them and their campfire burning low.  
  
Fortunately for her, Siegfried started the conversation- he was a veteran of several travels, and he had always been with others, usually members of his father's army. " What's your "personal reason" to go after Voldo?"  
  
She shrugged. " Why should I tell you?"  
  
He grinned. His good humor had been entirely restored by her comment. He was a joker at heart, and was always looking for good openings to jest.  
  
" I'll tell you my reason if you tell me yours." Noting the look on her face, he switched to a boastful tone. " Oh, come on. Don't you won't to know the deep, dark secrets of my mind?" He matched this off-kilter speech with a mocking serious expression.  
  
No longer smirking but smiling, she said, " Fine. I have a little personal quest of my own. My father hated magic, claimed it consumed not just lives but souls. I want to continue his own battle to eliminate the mages."  
  
Siegfried nodded. " Good. We could always use less magic in the world. My own reason," he ducked his head. " It'll sound strange, but I'm on a quest of redemption. I did something... very dishonorable a year ago. Ever since then, I've been trying to redeem myself. Voldo's just another evil man to kill." Switching subjects, he then said, " Speaking of Voldo, have you ever seen him?"  
  
She nodded. " Twice. Once in France, where he was following some rich man around, and once in Spain, where we fought. He's a very odd creature."  
  
Siegfried snorted. " Odd isn't the word for it. Our favorite leather-bound freak with the knife fetish is more than strange, Ivy- he's absolutely beyond belief. He looks like he could fillet a fish by twitching his pinky finger. And I still can't figure out how he sees anything with that thing around his eyes."  
  
She actually laughed at that, a beautiful tinkling sound. Siegfried found himself loving that laugh as soon as he heard it. " Good question. I never thought of that before... how does he see?"  
  
Seigfried shrugged, and they continued talking. It was long into the night before either went to sleep. They had no guard- this was a very remote area, and the thieves had scattered when Voldo took over the nearby castle.  
  
As his head hit the end of his sleeping bag, Siegfried's last thought was [My God, I think I'm falling for her..]  
  
Ivy's own thought was [I like him... No, more than just liking him.]  
  
They fell asleep, minds echoing the same thoughts.  
  
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Sophitia had heard the Snake Sword writhing on the chest and had rushed in. Her quick entrance had caused Ivy to awake and instantly grab her sword, which quieted as soon as she touched it, reforming itself into a sword.  
  
" Ivy?" Sophitia asked, her face drawn with worry. " Are you okay? Your sword was changing... what happened?"  
  
Ivy shook her head. " Just a dream," she said. " My sword responded to my emotions. Just a dream."  
  
Sophitia looked at her, and then struck by a sudden suspicion, whispered, " Is it about Siegfried?"  
  
Judging by Ivy's quick look away, Sophitia nodded her head.  
  
" Ivy," Sophitia began her voice low and calm, " I know how you must feel..."  
  
" No, you don't," Ivy said, her voice suddenly shaking with anger. " You have no idea what it's like. He's the man I love, Sophitia. How am I supposed to kill him? He bared his soul to me. I'm the only person alive that knows what he went through when Nightmare took over. He's the only person I've ever really loved..."  
  
Breaking down, she fought back sobs. Sophitia turned her head.  
  
" If my husband," Sophitia began, head still turned, " was taken over by the Soul Edge, I would kill him in an instant. Not because he would be consumed by the Soul Edge, but because it would free him from the torment of being locked in his own mind. Think of it like that, Ivy, not as killing Siegfried, but saving him."  
  
She turned and walked out. Ivy thought of a million things to say to her- how Sophitia's rock solid belief in the Greek gods was what gave her such single-mindedness, how killing her husband if he was consumed by Soul Edge would have nothing to do with helping him and everything to do with her sacred quest, how obsessed she was with destroying the last Soul Edge and finishing her quest. How Sophitia could never understand, so long as she held her duty before all else, what it was like to give yourself to someone totally without reserve, to love with all your heart and damn the consequences.  
  
In the end, she said nothing. But she promised herself the same thing she had promised herself everyday since Siegfried had picked up the Soul Edge trying to save them all:  
  
" I will save you, Siegfried. Even if it means my life."  
  
Outside her room, Sophitia wondered if Ivy would interfere with her quest to destroy the Soul Edge.  
  
If she tried, Sophitia would kill her.  
  
And not lose a drop of sleep. Service to the gods required no less.  
  
- Chapter Three is coming up, wherein we learn more of Ivy and Siegfried's battle with Voldo in Castle Travens! 


	3. The Lord of Decay

This is Chapter Three. Wow, I'm churning these out ninety-mile a minute. Usually don't write this fast, but the idea for this one has made me hogwild. Here's the third update, and it's a Siegfried chapter. This fanfic won't be very long- ten chapters is what I figure- but it will lead to other fanfics.  
  
P.S. This is totally off the subject of SC, but I have to find some help. Is there anyone watching "Big O" on Adult Swim reading this? (You've probably recognized the "SHOWTIME!" I put at the top of every chapter). If you are, PLEASE add a review that helps explain the last few episodes. I have my own opinions, but I would love to hear yours. If anyone reviews about it, I'll add a review to this fanfic myself that details my own opinion.  
  
Okay, enough of that. It's....  
  
" SHOWTIME!'  
  
Chapter 3  
  
The Lord of Decay  
  
Siegfried sat on the corner of his bed in his mind, panting hard. The last battle with Inferno had cost him dearly. Inferno had been waiting, lurking outside the door of his mind chamber, and had attacked him when he opened it. Siegfried had fought hard, and he'd made the demon lose several hours trying to crush him (time in which Nightmare, in the physical world, stood still in the valley below the hill). The sun had set by the time Siegfried, exhausted and beaten badly, had fled to his mind-chamber.  
  
He looked at the bed. Although in truth it was a crazy idea, he did require sleep. Siegfried knew (consciously at least) that he was now just a soul, a persona, that had no need of such physical things as sleep. Yet, he felt so tired...  
  
He lay down on his bed, and when his head hit the pillow, he slept.  
  
And he dreamed.  
  
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Siegfried woke up the next morning with a distinct sense of well-being. He sat up, stretching his body out to remove any kinks in it. His body felt rested, rejuvenated. He felt pretty damn good, all told.  
  
[Sleeping next to beautiful women will do that to you,] he mused.  
  
Thinking of Ivy, he turned to look at her. She was just awakening as well, Siegfried having awakened her when she sat up. Next to her, the Snake Sword split apart slowly and then writhed once, almost leisurely. It reformed itself with a small snapping noise, and then was still.  
  
Siegfried shuddered. Although Ivy swore that her sword merely responded to her current mood, he thought the damn thing was alive. Creepy.  
  
Siegfried said, " Morning, Ivy. Sleep well?"  
  
She stretched her arms out and popped her knuckles. Siegfried had a chance to notice (with no small glee) the effect this had on the front of her dress, and then she settled back. " Yes. Let's get going."  
  
Getting up from his sleeping bag, Siegfried began rolling it up and repacking his few possessions. When he was done, he picked up Requiem and slung the immense sword over his shoulder, carrying it the way he had always done. Putting on the strap of his sleeping back/pack, he looked at Ivy. She had finished putting her stuff together as well, and nodded at him. They started off together, silent for most of the journey.  
  
They reached the outskirts of Voldo's castle by noon.  
  
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Castle Travens, eventually destroyed in battle, had originally been owned by a duke whose main activity was finding young, pretty serving girls and placing them in "special" positions, ones usually involving the bedroom. However, his whole reason in doing so was far different then what most dukes were doing at that time.  
  
Duke Travens, a tall man who was just shy of seven foot, had a ghastly appearance. He weighed no more than 180 pounds, and at his height he was rapier-thin. His hands, large enough to surround a basketball, resembled claws. His hair and eyes were jet-black, but he was extremely pale. All in all, not the image of anything human.  
  
Travens enjoyed Psi, and became quite talented with it. He was a War Psyke, and his specialty was using his mind's powers for destruction. However, he soon grew bored with his own limits and didn't want to go through the rigorous training that would increase his powers. So, he turned to magic.  
  
The single forbidden Discipline, damned the world over. Magic was the calling on of demons, and ever since the Sundering War that drove the Four Races apart, those fools who call themselves Warlocks have been using it. To perform magic, the user must give their soul to the demon. In exchange for this bargain (damning the soul to eternal torment), the demon rewards them with magic.  
  
Travens became one of these fools. He drew his magic from a Corruption Demon, a damned spirit named Thok'ti. Thok'ti, a demon that had existed even in the Sundering War untold thousands of years past, demanded the blood of young women as worship. Travens was happy to oblige.  
  
His worship of this monster eventually consumed everyone around him. His servants mutated into undead beings, and the woods died around him. The earth all around his castle was rotted, and the graveyards of his villages spewed forth their contents. Murderous creatures stalked the night of his lands, and their screaming was heard for miles.  
  
Eventually, a brave priest, armed only with a silver cross and his faith, fought the unholy warlock. He managed to kill Travens, burning him with the silver cross (for demons and their servants fear the touch of the symbol of their greatest foe), but he was unable to destroy Thok'ti and send him to hell.  
  
Thok'ti lived on, and the lands never healed. Most of the monsters were slain by English patrols, and the matter regarded as closed. Travelers avoided the lands about Travens Castle, and took to calling it the EverBlight.  
  
Voldo had come to speak with Thok'ti, who slept in a statue within the castle. His master had demanded it, speaking in his mind. He'd said it would make finding the Soul Edge easier.  
  
Voldo had been happy to oblige.  
  
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Siegfried and Ivy looked around themselves. They'd never seen anything like this. The ground was completely rotted in front of them- in Siegfried's mind, he thought of it as graveyard soil. Behind them, the land was green and the path, although worn from disuse, was fine. The trees on this side of some invisible line were normal looking. On the other side, they were black, not green. Their bark ran with strange, red sap that leaked through their pores. It looked as if they were bleeding to death slowly.  
  
Siegfried looked at Ivy, his eyes wide with disbelief. The villagers had said the land was corrupted, but he'd never expected this. His courage, strong as it was, began to wilt as he gazed at this wasted and blasted land.  
  
" My God," was all he whispered. She looked back at him, and Siegfried saw the same mix of disbelief and fear in her eyes that was in his mind. Rather than being more frightened, he drew heart. He wasn't the only one afraid here, it seemed.  
  
" I'd heard it was bad, but this... this is beyond belief." She shook her head, and then drew a deep breath. Letting it out, she said, " But let's do this. Can't let the bastard scare us, right?"  
  
Siegfried smiled at that, and the pallor of fear on them diminished as he smiled. " It's a little too late for that, but you're right. No sense hanging around staring at it. God favors the brave, they say."  
  
Stepping into the woods, she said, " That better be right. We need all the help we can get right now."  
  
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Voldo, who had just returned to the castle from his latest trip to the nearby villages, entered the main hall carrying a small trophy. It was the latest gift to Thok'ti, who had awakened when Voldo carried out the ritual required to summon him. Thok'ti had woken up hungry.  
  
Very hungry.  
  
In Voldo's arms, the young girl- she was twelve, and never to reach thirteen- stirred. He ignored her. He had rendered her unconscious with a blow to the head, and she wasn't going to wake until he had prepared the ceremony. He continued down the main hall, then opened the wide doors that opened onto the current abode of Thok'ti, the Lord of Decay.  
  
The room was stone, shot through with gold, the preferred metal of demons. The gold pulsated with energy, looking much like veins. The entire room gave off the smell of rotting flesh, and somewhere, as if from a very long distance, one could hear a child crying in pain. Screaming in torment. The room seemed alive, somehow. Set in the center of the far wall, the golden veins emanating outwards from it, sat the heart of this organism.  
  
The statue Thok'ti had made Travens construct was hideous in the extreme, and accurately depicted the demon's true form. It stood over ten feet high, torso covered in writhing snakes. From each snake's mouth, a saliva that swarmed with disease dripped. These snakes had red, ruby cut eyes that glittered dully in the torchlight that streamed in from the main hall through the open door. It's arms, seeming to simply erupt out of that snake-covered madness like stunted trees, were long and muscle bound. Each could have touched the floor if they were held to the sides of the demon. They ended in elongated fingers whose claw-covered tips were split and formed a set of distinct, c urved horns. Pus ran out of open wounds on these arms, and all manner of foulness grew on them. Dangling moss hung off them, like tattered sleeves. The legs, long as well, ended in talons not unlike a bird's legs. The head resembled a human face that had been stretched backwards and upwards, creating a hideous, pincer-like mouth filled with sharp teeth. Several eyes, perhaps a dozen, gave watch from various places on the monstrosity's face, and these were the only moving things on the statue; one gazed at Voldo from it's place on the cheek as he entered. It blinked dreamily, and then looked away.  
  
Voldo lay the young girl down. Thok'ti's voice, a voice that sounded as if it produced a thousand echoing screams with a single word, spoke in his head.  
  
* A WORTHY SACRIFICE, VOLDO,* it stated, it's tone deeper than a well. The voice spoke a dreamy madness.  
  
" As you willed, Master," Voldo said, bowing to Thok'ti and then moving backwards, still on his hands and knees.  
  
The mouth of the statue opened, and a single long jaw came out. This jaw, cat-like in nature, extended on a long neck of scales from out of the statue's mouth. It extended to the girl, and seemed to check her, as one would a piece of meat. Satisfied that the sacrifice was clean, the mouth extended and stretched outwards.  
  
Thok'ti bit the little girl's head off, and crushed it in his mouth. The blood gushed outward, coating the floor. Bright symbols, unholy in nature, flared to life at this hellish sacrifice. The entire castle was soon painted in red, glowing symbols. The blood of the little girl's body was sucked out of her, food for the castle. Thok'ti's voice sounded once more in Voldo's mind, sounding satisfied now.  
  
* IT HAS BEGUN.*  
  
- Look for Chapter Four soon! Review me and tell me what you like! 


	4. The Blade Freak

Been a while between updates, but I was very busy with my other fanfics. I've got two others I'm working on right now, and a one-shot that I just finished. The one-shot is a Big O fanfic titled "Wakening of the Wanderer", and details what I believe to be the truth about the series, which is about as complicated as anime gets.  
  
One of the reviews I got said I made the fanfic too fantasy style. To that person, LOOK AT SOUL CALIBER. These people are running after a demon-possessed sword, they perform Olympic level martial arts, lizard men are running around, one of the characters (Astaroth) is a animated golem... need I say more? Soul Caliber is a fantasy world, and a wondrous one at that. I've added my own backstory to it. The gist of my backstory is that Psi, or psychic powers, have existed on this world for years, ever since the Sundering War. If you want details about the Sundering War, check out my Deeping Dream fanfic. It details the Sundering War a little.  
  
Here's Chapter Four. And now it's...  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
Chapter Four  
  
The Blade Freak  
  
  
  
Ivy and Siegfried looked about themselves. They were standing outside the entrance to Travens' Castle, and the sight of the somehow sickening fort both disgusted and terrified them. It seemed to breathe, to ooze out it's own sickening life. The open holes gazed at them, and the cavernous mouth of the doorway, filled with the rubble that once was an oaken door, emitted a foul stench. The walls were green with slime and mold, and once or twice they had seen foul things slither alongside the walls, snake-like things that left oozing trails through the moss alongside the walls. The two guard towers at front were slumped, crumbled things that resembled wilting flowers atop the castle mound. It reeked of corruption and death.  
  
Siegfried looked at Ivy. He was becoming very scared; he had been possessed by a demon once, and the scar that had left upon his very soul warned him of demonic presence. Here, it was almost as strong as the presence of Inferno inside the Soul Edge. Siegfried was having second thoughts about tangling with whatever was inside there; it was apparent that Voldo was the least of their worries.  
  
" Uh, Ivy..." he began, then stopped. On her face was a look he recognized from his years of war, a look he had associated with those warriors who had revenge on their minds: the snarling lips and burning eyes told Siegfried that there was no way he was going to change her mind. She was going to go in there, like it or not. For the first time he wondered what happened to her father, and he felt it was a good bet magic had something to do with it.  
  
" What?" she said, still gazing at the castle with that oddly intense look. Siegfried sighed. [Better help her,] he thought, [because come hell or high water, she's going to go in there... No high water in sight, but this sure looks like hell.]  
  
" Let's go," he said, and they set off inside together.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Inside the mind of Nightmare, Siegfried stirred, for the next part of the dream was one he had seen several times in his nightmares, for one does not forget a battle with a demon easily. However, he was too exhausted to wake, and his stirrings and mumblings only brought him to half-wakefulness. Outside, in the real world outside his psyche, Inferno was walking towards a port city in Spain. The demon did not know it, but it was the same town in which Ivy, Kilik, and Sophitia were spending the night.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
They had taken two steps into the castle when Voldo, who had waited patiently above the doorway (his edged hands and feet holding him there like claws) gave the order to attack to Thok'ti's servants. Four long, serpent-like monsters slithered out to strike, and Voldo dropped down on top of Siegfried.  
  
The snake creatures, called Serpen by humans, were mutated snakes. They easily reached nine feet in length, and raised their upper body off the floor with long, muscular arms. These creatures were highly poisonous, and one demonstrated it's ability to spit this venom by trying to blind Ivy. She ducked and her Snake Sword went through the air, cutting a hissing path. It wrapped around the meaty flesh of the creature's upper right forearm. Blood spurted out when Ivy snapped the blade back, severing the arm with a scissoring motion.  
  
Siegfried, meanwhile, had been belly-flopped by the leaping Voldo. Having heard the scratching of his claws just in time, Siegfried had used his sword as a makeshift shield. Voldo landed on it and leaped off, hissing and spitting like a cat the whole time. When he hit the ground, he turned, growling at Siegfried.  
  
Siegfried put Requiem in front of him, the edge of the titanic sword aimed at Voldo. Siegfried heard his father's voice in his mind as he did this:  
  
" Son, you will never be faster than your opponent. You wield a large weapon, and the weakness of a large weapon is speed. But you do not have to be faster than your opponent, just smarter. Many people say that large weapons are for brutes, but that is not true. It takes no skill or brains to strike with a speedy rapier, but it takes a true master to strike with a Zweihander. You must make your opponent move first. Trick him into doing what you want him to do. Make him think you are going forward when you are going back, and then you will outsmart him, son."  
  
Remembering his father's words, Seigfried said the words that caused Voldo to fly into a rage:  
  
" Where's your master, Voldo? Lying dead in a crypt somewhere? Still hearing voices, freak?"  
  
Voldo, who at this point was extremely insane, lost control. Abandoning all care or caution, he leapt straight at Siegfried. Siegfried swung his sword in an overhead arc. Voldo saw the trick at the last minute, and dodged left. The result was that Requiem sliced off his right arm, and not his entire body. Voldo shrieked with pain as the tendons were cut and the bone was sliced. Blood spurted outward, hitting the far wall. Voldo hit the ground and rolled away, and when he got to his feet he ran off, the stump of his arm still bleeding. He disappeared down a dark hallway, running for his life.  
  
Siegfried watched him leave, then turned to help Ivy. She was decapitating the Serpen in front of her, using the same motion she had used to slice it's arm off. Her sword quickly killed it's mutated namesake and returned to it's blade form. Behind her, rearing to strike, a Serpen opened it's jaws wide. It was going to swallow her head whole.  
  
" Behind you! Duck!" Siegfried yelled, running forward. Ivy heard him and ducked at the last minute. The creature's snapping jaws shut with an audible click barely a foot above her face. It hissed it's displeasure. Ivy stabbed it between the eyes, and the beast's reflexes caused it to spasm, throwing Ivy into a nearby column.  
  
Siegfried's run toward Ivy was stopped by the other two Serpen. Using his forward motion to empower his sword, he went into a dead stop and flung his arms wide. Requiem sung through the air, whistling. It sliced apart one Serpen's face, and the creature's dying body jerked and thrashed before laying still.  
  
The other Serpen ignored it's dead companion and wrapped it's tail around Siegfried. Thrown off-balance by his own sudden stop, he couldn't turn in time. The monstrous, gray-scaled bulk of the tail wrapped about him and began to squeeze. It reached out a claw and began to crush his skull like a grape. He screamed in agony and tried to fling it off.  
  
Ivy got up from the floor. Still dazed, she saw the Serpen crushing Siegfried to death. Her sword was still embedded in the skull of the Serpen she had killed. She grabbed a nearby torch brazier instead and threw it instead. The fiery missile only bounced off the Serpen's scales, but it distracted it for a moment. The irresistible strength of the scaled coils relented, and Siegfried's great strength pulled them off long enough for him to bring Requiem to bear. Not having room to swing, he instead lifted it so the hilt was at his face, the blade vertical. The Serpen, it's small brain not seeing the clear danger, squeezed again, hard.  
  
The Serpen's own incredible strength drove it's tail onto the hard, sharp edge of Requiem. It was sliced neatly in half, and fell to the floor in a splash of hot blood. The Serpen screamed, right before Siegfried buried Requiem in it's skull.  
  
Pulling the Snake Sword from the Serpen she had killed, Ivy looked at him, breathing hard from the battle.  
  
" Where's.. voldo?" she said, gasping.  
  
Siegfried, his ribs hurting and every breath agony, replied, " Dying,... I guess. Cut his... arm off. Hell... of a welcome wagon, huh?"  
  
She smiled, and that was when a roar filled the entire castle. The sound caused them both to cringe in pain. A booming noise sounded out, and the ground shook.  
  
Thok'ti walked into the room.  
  
-Stay tuned for Chapter Five. I'll write it as fast as I can! 


	5. Bleeding of Reality

Hey people. Been a long time between updates, but with four fanfics going on at once, your brain tends to become fried. Trust me, it's quite unpleasant.  
  
All of you have waited long enough for this story, so I'll shut up here. Because now it's...  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Bleeding of Reality  
  
Siegfried and Ivy stared at the open doorway. Something that was pulled straight out of a lunatic's nightmare was standing there. The air around it seemed to ripple, as if just by existing it was warping the very fabric of reality itself. The stone and nearby areas seemed to... bleed, to run together, like wet paint. The creature's laughter, a horrid gurgling and gushing sound, rang out in the room. It placed a hand against the stone and the stone seemed to ripple, as if the force of the impact had been made visible. Siegfried realized with something akin to horror that he was going to die.  
  
The statue Travens had made was accurrate to a degree, but no statue of mere stone could truly replicate the horrid beast. From it's mouth, constantly dripping foam and pus splashed on the floor. Siegfried saw that it moved, as if alive, and wriggled about before stopping and disintegrating (Siegfried's mind couldn't help but think of it as dying). The snakes writhed constantly, and the chittering of their scales on one another drowned out all other sound in the room, washing it away in a tidal wave of scraping madness. Bleeding sores stood open on it's body, and the foul, black blood dripped and ran silently onto the floor. The demon flexed it's massive hands and walked in.  
  
" WELCOME," Thok'ti said, his voice booming in Siegfried's mind and causing him to grab his head in pain (unbeknownst to him, his ears had started bleeding). Thok'ti's laughter rang in his mind. " BE GLAD. FEW HAVE GAZED UPON SUCH AS I IN THIS DAY AND AGE." Sweeping it's head across the room, it asked, " WHERE ARE YOU, SERVANT? VOLDO?" Turning back to the two warriors, it said, " APPARENTLY YOU KILLED HIM. NOT TOO BAD. YOU WILL BE EXCELLENT PRACTICE FOR ME. I'VE BEEN ASLEEP A LONG TIME."  
  
Ivy had taken something from a pouch on her belt. It was a vial, with a cross design on the stopper. Gripping it, she threw it at Thok'ti, praying she wouldn't miss. The glass vial flew through the air, and Thok'ti swatted it with his claw. Too late, the demon saw it's mistake. The vial busted in it's hand, and the holy water seeped out. It's claw didn't so much melt as dissappear, as if it had never been there. The demon's outraged scream rang out in the room.  
  
Glaring at Ivy with unmasked hate, twin snakes launched out of it's body. The two snakes were moving incredibly fast, and there was no way she was going to dodge in time. Poison glittered on their fangs as they raced toward her, triumph clear in their eyes...  
  
Siegfried saw his chance. He was standing to the left of them, and swung just as they passed him. He cut their necks neatly in half. Thok'ti roared and retracted the bleeding stumps. On the floor, the heads twitched, and the necks still attached to them flung blood everywhere. The blood was black and thick.  
  
Thok'ti stomped forward, and twin holes opened in it's massive shoulders. Two blasts of foul gases sprayed forth. The gases would kill anything they touched. Ivy dodged them, hiding behind a pillar and drawing out another vial. She flung it around the side of the pillar without coming out. The vial burst when it hit the ground, and the area about it was suddenly black, filled with a dark cloud of some sort. It flew out and covered the gas cloud, and a gnashing sound was heard. The blackness dissipated with a low-pitched sigh, and the gas cloud was gone. Thok'ti roared and Ivy smirked. The black cloud was a Darkness spirit she had trapped. Damn thing ended up useful after all.  
  
Thok'ti ran forward, it's one remaining claw swinging low to the ground. It struck a column with an incredibly loud, ringing sound, and the place it had touched melted and caved in slightly. The entire pillar sagged forward, looking like a monk bowing in prayer.  
  
Siegfried glanced at the pillar, and had an idea. He didn't know if it would work, but...  
  
" Hey! Jackass! Come and- Oof!" Siegfried said. He'd planned on taunting it and then crushing it under the pillar's weight by cutting through the pillar when Thok'ti was under it. His plan was stopped by the one-armed freak attempting to slit his throat. Voldo had kicked him into another of the stone pillars, knocking Requiem out of his hands, and now Siegfried had both his hands on Voldo's one remaining arm, attempting to stop the gibbering, maddened freakshow from carving him like a Thanksgiving turkey. He finally kicked him off, and grabbed Requiem, but when he looked up Voldo was gone. Siegfried looked around, trying to spot him.  
  
Voldo had excellent senses, although he could not see (Siegfried would not have been surprised at this). He instead "felt" things, "saw" them in black-and-white geometric shapes. He was old, over 50, yet the testing and psi performed on him kept his body lithe and animalistic. They also gave him incredible stamina, and though he was dying, he was able to hold onto the top of a pillar, out of torchlight and Siegfried's sight.  
  
Hearing his master's voice once more (get him Get Him GET HIM) he dropped from the roof, and a war-cry torn from his very heart echoed out into the room.  
  
Ivy had turned to see what had produced that warbling sound, and in that unguarded moment Thok'ti swept his claw at her. Her reflexes kicked in and she ducked- but not before his claw touched the top of her skull. In that moment, her hair died instantly, and several bits of it fell out in violet clumps on the floor. A horrid, searing pain filled her head, and she screamed. Thok'ti rose up and opened it's scorpion pincer mouth, getting ready to bite.  
  
Siegfried had heard Voldo falling, and done the one thing he could do. He fell right on his ass, raising Requiem over himself and curling into a ball. Voldo hit Requiem so hard that the massive blade shuddered, and Siegfried thought that if Voldo had connected it would have split his entire body in half. Voldo, body ringing from it's contact with Requiem, stumbled backward. Siegfried, ignoring the shaking in his arms, got up and swung Requiem, hard. It tore through Voldo's chest, and Voldo's last thought is...  
  
[It was never my master it was Inferno oh beware boy BEWARE]  
  
And then his mind finally, mercifully, shut down for good, and his weary body fell to the floor.  
  
Siegfried turned and gasped in shock and fright. Ivy, whose hair appeared to be thinning, was snapping the Snake Sword rapidly back and forth at Thok'ti. The creature was trying to bite her in between the lashes, and Ivy was tiring. She looked very badly hurt, and Siegfried looked for anything to help her. Glancing up, he saw a glass chandelier, hanging above Thok'ti. Dropping his sword and grabbing a nearby torch brazier, he flung it at the chandelier. The fiery missile split the rope holding it to the ceiling, and it came down, a beautiful comet, to the earth. It's spiked end hit Thok'ti in the middle of it's twisted, horrendous spines. Snakes hissed and screamed as they were crushed under the tremendous weight of the chandelier. Thok'ti uttered a single choked scream before it's foul lungs were pierced. It fell with a crash. Ivy leaped out of it's way and nimbly dodged the broken glass.  
  
Siegfried, thinking the demon was dead, walked towards her. " Well, I guess that-"  
  
" Get away from it!" Ivy cried, searching frantically in her pouch. She had brought a special vial, and if she had lost it, then God help them.  
  
The chandelier shuddered. Thok'ti began rising up, a nightmarish thing. It's body was already repairing itself. It glanced at Ivy and grinned, something she felt sure would drive her mad. Laughter echoed in her mind.  
  
" VERY GOOD! YOU ARE EXCELLENT WARRIORS. BUT STILL, NOT QUITE GOOD ENOUGH."  
  
Ivy finally found what she was looking for. A silver vial, capped with a glass stopper displaying a lightning bolt. She grabbed it, and yelled as she threw it:  
  
" SHUT UP!"  
  
The vial swung up, toward the demon, toward the monster. She drew her sword and cracked the vial once, shattering the glass stopper. Her sword drew back as a strange, silvery liquid began to spill out. As it touched the demon's skin, it flashed-  
  
Thok'ti suddenly jerked, standing stiffly upright. Siegfried heard a buzzing sound, so loud it made the hall seem like a million bees were flying around it. Blue and silver jolts of electricity arced through the air, and Thok'ti was electrified as thousands of volts of electricity flowed through him. The black thing at his body's core which was his essence dissipated as it was consumed by that bright-blue electric fire. The body fell, smouldering.  
  
Siegfried stared at the falling demon, and looked at Ivy, full of wonder. She half-smirked and said, " Demons don't like electricity."  
  
-Stay tuned for chapter six! 


	6. Salvation and Redemption

Hey people. I haven't abandoned this world yet! For the reviewers:  
  
Sabriel45- Thanks for the compliments. Read your profile- Canada's a nice place. Cold, but nice. I've never been there myself, but a lot of my family has, and they've told me how nice it is up there. Minus the gun control thing, of course. Too bad your leaders tried to make a gun registration program- they should look at Britain and Australia. Those two countries implemented gun registration, then took the guns away. The violent gun death rate is shooting up in both countries, especially Britain, where it's almost as high as it is in America. And America is over twice it's size, both in land and people.  
  
As for how Voldo got back to Siegfried, I forgot to put in an explanation. Voldo ran off and hid behind a pillar. When Siegfried attempted to attack Thok'ti, Voldo attacked. I honestly thought I'd added that part :).  
  
Another reviewer said it's good I haven't abandoned this fic yet. Nope. I won't abandon it until it's done or I'm dead. Albeiting that at the rate I'm working, I'll probably be dead first.  
  
Oh, and, as you've probably guessed, I'm a Christian and that comes out in my work. If you are not a Christian, I am not forcing you to read this. If you are, then welcome, my brother/sister. I'm not prejudiced against any other religion, but I think Christianity is the only true religion. I won't force you to be Christian, though, or read my work. Those forced are not true Christians, as no one can be forced to love the Lord.  
  
Time to get on with it. It's...  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Salvation and Redemption  
  
Ivy woke up in the hotel. Her head resting on a cheap cot, the land was still dark. The sun was barely brightening the far horizon. She had dreamed about when she and Siegfried had killed Thok'ti, the demon. It had been a strangely vivid dream. She was still grateful she'd remembered to bring the StormSilver vial with her. Her father was the one who told her about demons, she remembered. It had been about a year before he died. She and him were talking in the library, and she'd asked about demons.  
  
" What are demons?" she'd asked him. She'd read about them recently, and had gotten curious.  
  
" Terrible things," her father said, turning his head slightly. " Dark things from the twisting darkness that belongs to neither the living nor dead of mortals, but to those spirits inbetween. They are the ultimate essence of our evil, of the evil of all races. They are the reason so much has fallen, both by their direct actions and corrupting noble souls."  
  
" Why doesn't somebody just kill them?" she'd asked.  
  
" Easier said than done," he'd said. " Only three things effect them at all. Silver is the only physical thing that will hurt a demon. The bodies they use can be destroyed, but to really kill one you must cut their essence with silver. The essence looks like a black shadow that bends reality around itself. Fire will destroy the essence, but only Psychic fire, not normal flames. The last way is electricity."  
  
" Electricity? Why will that hurt them? I get the other two- silver is the metal of Good, and fire purifies all things- but why electricity?"  
  
" Electricity represents advancement," her father had said patiently. " The demons hate Good, and they hate it's offspring, advancement. We are more advanced than people 100 years ago, yet if demons had their way, we would all be crawling on the ground like animals. When mankind advances itself, through technology and Psi, we improve our lot in life and save lives, perhaps even souls. There are, of course, bad points to advancement, but on the whole it's a good thing. Demons hate that, and fear it. Electricity is the representative of advancement, burning away ignorance and fear, the greatest weapons a demon has. It is for this reason electricity will kill them."  
  
She'd nodded then. She hadn't understood everything he'd said then, but got the gist of it: to kill a demon, stab with silver, burn it, or fry it with electricity. She'd bought the vial because it was the cheapest thing she could get. She was damn glad of it, too.  
  
Shaking her head to clear the last of the sleepiness, she sat up in the bed. Her sword lay next to her, glittering softly as dawn spread across the land. To her right, Sophitia slept, and even in sleep looked like a soldier. She slept on her back, one hand wrapped about the hilt of the sword that lay on her chest, pointing to her feet. The other lay behind her head. Her shield lay on that side of the bed, leaning towards the bed. She breathed in and out lightly, bosom rising and falling as she slept. Ivy felt a rush of completely unanticipated sorrow for her husband. Sophitia was insane. Sophitia couldn't care about anything earthly. She didn't care what she did to anyone, as long as her mission wasn't affected. When getting this room, Ivy hadn't even bothered to haggle with the innkeeper, afraid Sophitia would simply kill the poor woman and take a room. She would, too. As Siegfried had said when they first met Sophitia, " That bitch is crazy. Whatever gods she follows are more like demons." On this, Ivy had agreed.  
  
Thinking of Siegfried brought a fresh pain to Ivy's heart. She once more renewed her vow to save him, then went into the small bathroom to freshen up. They were starting early today, leaving as soon as the sun appeared on the horizon.  
  
Sophitia, who had been awake since Ivy had first stirred and had been watching through slitted eyes, watched her walk into the bathroom. Sophitia had considered killing Ivy in the night, sure that Ivy would interfere with getting rid of the Soul Edge, and had even gotten up during the night and held her sword above the sleeping Ivy's neck. A single blow and the trouble was over. But she'd decided not to. Ivy might come in handy dealing with Nightmare. And then there was the problem with Kilik. She'd have to kill him too if she killed Ivy, and then she'd have to face Nightmare alone. She wasn't so arrogant as to think she could face the monster without help.  
  
She yawned, making sure not to under-or-over do it, then got up and placed her hand on her shield. Unlike Ivy, Sophitia could care less what she looked like. She was married, after all. To a proper Vulcan worshipper, nonetheless. She tried to call a mental image of her husband to mind and couldn't find one. Oh well. He was unimportant, save that he had forged her sword and shield. Sophitia generally found men useless and not worth remembering. Kilik was along mostly so she could use him for cannon fodder when Nightmare attacked. Hopefully Ivy would attempt something stupid, and Nightmare would attack her too. Then Sophitia would strike while Nightmare was busy, stabbing him in the back. Both Kilik and Ivy would die, but that was beside the point.  
  
Having companions made things so much easier.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
Noon that day.  
  
An open grassland, swaying with the breeze. A few sparse trees populated the landscape, but seemed like unwanted guests at a party consisting of shrubs and grasses. Cows grazed, and their lowing carried in the fields and rolling hills. Amid this peaceful scenery, Nightmare walked, as out of place as a dragon and far more dangerous. He was walking up a hill, and for once Siegfried was silent. He'd been waiting for a steep drop or dangerous situation of some kind, hoping to screw up Inferno when he could afford it least. With any luck bandits would attack, although Siegfried had a feeling it would take a small army to kill Inferno. Inferno, glad for the peace of mind, kept walking.  
  
Not half a mile from him, past another of the rolling hills, Ivy and her party were walking. They'd heard reports of a azure monster walking around, one with bright red hair and an enormous sword. They were pretty sure it was Nightmare. As it turned out, they were right. Kilik saw him first. The monk came to the top of a hill and spotted Nightmare as he was climbing down a slope in front of Kilik.  
  
" Hey! It's him!" Kilik shouted, whipping out his staff. He charged down the slope.  
  
Pulling out her sword, Sophitia ran forward. Ivy was right behind her, although noticeably slower in pulling out her sword. Thoughts and doubts rambled through her mind like a stampede.  
  
[ He's here... what do I do? Oh God, help me... Help me figure out how to save him...]  
  
Nightmare had spotted them too, and in the darkness of Siegfried's mind Inferno laughed.  
  
" Here they come," Inferno said. " I'll let you look through one of my eyes, if you wish. You'll be able to see them die. Won't that be fun?"  
  
Siegfried said nothing, but just charged out at Inferno, throwing everything he had at the demon. Inferno, balked by the sudden onslaught (it was far stronger than anything he'd expected Siegfried to do), fought back. On the slope, Nightmare stopped. Kilik reached him, and swung his staff. It cracked Nightmare in the face hard enough to knock him down. Inferno, still locked in battle with Siegfried, sent a mental command to the body to work on instinct. The body responded, and swung the Soul Edge at Kilik. Kilik leapt nimbly backwards, dodging the unholy sword.  
  
Behind him, Ivy and Sophitia were just about to reach them when Ivy had a sudden, brilliant burst of insight. Kilik's pendant...  
  
[ He can draw anything out,] she thought. [ If he draws Inferno out...]" Kilik!" she screamed. " Your pendant! Give it to me!"  
  
Kilik, looking back and dodging the clumsy swings of Nightmare ( Kilik wondered about this and decided not to question good luck), yelled back " What?"  
  
" Your pendant! I can use it to draw Inferno out! Then we don't have to kill Siegfried!"  
  
Kilik nodded and tossed the pendant to her. Ivy caught it, and then almost lost her hand. Sophitia had slashed at her, missing by inches.  
  
" What the hell are you doing?" Ivy asked, leaping back.  
  
" Draw Inferno out, and you won't be able to really destroy the Soul Edge," Sophitia said calmly, as if discussing the matter over tea. " He'll escape. It's much simpler to kill the body he is inhabiting and then smash the Soul Edge. Destroy the host, and it's over. Your plan involves too many chances."  
  
" Host? Is that all Siegfried is to you? After all we went through together? We traveled all over Europe and Asia together, damn you! Is this how you treat friends?" Ivy, whose fury at Sophitia had been growing for some time, was close to the boiling point.  
  
" Ivy! Save Siegfried! I'll deal with Sophitia!" Kilik said, easily escaping the slow, lumbering Nightmare. Since the body was moving entirely on it's base drives, it could barely keep up with the swift monk. Inside, Siegfried fought with renewed fervor. He had regained control of some of his sense, and with his hearing restored, he heard Ivy's voice. It drove him to greater efforts, and he fought Inferno with everything he had. Inferno, just as determined to kill Siegfried as Siegfried was to kill him, fought back. The darkness of Siegfried's psyche rumbled with thunder and lightening.  
  
Kilik ran forward, and Sophitia raised her shield. She had little doubt she could slaughter the fool. She was a woman, after all, chosen of Vulcan, and no mere man could defeat her.  
  
These thoughts ran through her head about two seconds before Kilik's foot slammed into her face. He had put his staff's end to the ground like an Olympic pole-vaulter, and used his momentum for a good, strong kick. He grinned as he felt the solid impact.  
  
[ Had that coming, you bitch,] he thought. He knew monks shouldn't think such thoughts, but traveling with his friends had shown him a lot. Living in a monastery was a bad way to experience life.  
  
Reeling backwards, Sophitia shook her head and glared at him, madder than hell. Her temper, which usually lay dormant, flooded forth. Readying her sword and shield, she let loose with it, reverting to her native language in her anger.  
  
" Bastard!" she screamed in Greek at him. Having no idea what she said but able to guess, Kilik shrugged at her. Sophitia ran forward at him, slashing with her sword and ramming with her shield. Kilik kept dodging, bringing his staff to bear when he could. The sounds of his staff striking Sophitia's shield rang out again and again.  
  
[ She's good,] he thought. Despite her obvious anger, she wasn't blindly flailing, but using her rage to give her more strength in her normal techniques. Their battle carried them across the grassy plains, which seemed to pass in a blur. He kept running backwards, striking and dodging-  
  
He tripped suddenly, a jutting rock catching his foot. He fell, and Sophitia leaped at him, her sword ready to separate his head and neck. He raised his staff, sure he'd never make it in time and hoping only to knock Sophitia out and give Ivy some time.  
  
As Kilik and Sophitia struggled, Ivy raised Kilik's pendant. She'd seen him use it often enough (and talked to him about it, over a campfire, on enough journeys) to get the basic idea. She let her thoughts flow into the pendant. It glowed black, and she felt an irresistible force pulling from the pendant. It seemed like all the world would be drawn to the pendant, by a force greater than wind or gravity or any other pitiful physical force. She concentrated on Inferno, shutting her eyes and blocking out the world.  
  
[ Him,] she thought, unaware she had clenched the pendant so tightly in her right hand that her knuckles had turned white. Her jaw clenched as she concentrated harder on Inferno, remembering his flaming, demonic body. [ Draw him out of my love. Draw him like poison from a wound... Draw him! Draw Inferno!]  
  
Inferno, inside Siegfried's head, felt an incredible force acting on him. Letting his attention go to the real world outside Siegfried's mind, he saw that the world around him was black. The sky had went dark, but no stars shone. The grass swayed violently, as if in the throes of a tremendous hurricane, and the trees in the distance were pulled towards the glowing black object in Ivy's hands, as if reaching for it with green fingers and hands. Sophitia glanced backwards as she felt that incredible force, and Kilik seized the opportunity to hit her in the face with his staff, rapping her a good one on the forehead. She fell off, and Kilik got up. Sophitia growled at him and stabbed from the ground, cutting his right arm badly. He jumped back and she stood up. She smiled at him, a feral grin that reminded Kilik of a tiger regarding a deer.  
  
" Well, little boy," she growled, and the image of a tiger was reinforced in Kilik's head, " had enough fun yet? Tired? Want to go home to Mommy now that you're hurt? Oh, sorry. Forgot that you killed most of your family." She chuckled, deep in the throat, without opening her mouth. The sound was mocking and felt to Kilik like salt on a wound.  
  
Kilik almost resisted it. He almost resisted the anger that flowed through him, a tremendous and raging thing that made a mockery of Sophitia's temper. His monk training, all the years of being told not to let "negative feelings" gain a foothold in him, almost made him resist it. And then he shoved the memories aside. He yelled, a cry of sheer rage, that made Sophitia's grin falter. Sheer power flowed through Kilik, and his monk training aided him in this. His body flexed, and his force flowed about him, a red light about his body, the only light in the field left alone by the pendant. His power flared scarlet, and Kilik rushed forward. Sophitia attempted to block him, but it was as useless as trying to stop a hurricane. Kilik's staff, glowing with crimson energy and leaving a contrail in the air, swung out and connected once... twice... three times. The first time shattered Sophitia's shield, scattering the wood and metal pieces everywhere. Sophitia's shield arm was broken, and she cried out in pain. The second blow shattered the Omega Sword, breaking it to pieces that evaporated in the wind, and Sophitia had time for one last thought  
  
[ How? How could he break a sword of the gods? How could he...]  
  
before the third blow struck her in the face, a horizontal swing much like a baseball player's swing. Sophitia was blown backwards, hitting a nearby hill with enough force to cause rubble and dirt to be thrown in the air. She lay there, unconscious. Kilik, his power receding now that his anger was gone, looked at her. He had held back with his last blow. Had he struck as hard as he intended to, he would have decapitated her. But he had not. He shook his head. Sophitia had saved his life once, so he would spare her now. And, he pitied her. She was so dedicated to something that was nothing. Something that was little more than falsities. He himself was not a Christian ( he was between religions now, not an atheist but not dedicated to one religion either), but traveling with Ivy and Siegfried, and seeing all that he had, was making him lean more and more towards it. He'd come to believe that maybe Christianity was the true religion.  
  
He shook his head. Maybe Sophitia could learn better, though he doubted it.  
  
As Kilik was delivering his finishing blows to Sophitia, Ivy turned towards Nightmare's now-still body. Siegfried and Inferno were no longer fighting. Both were amazed by the power emitting from Ivy. And suddenly, the blackness in Ivy's hand grew, spread into a star of darkness visible even in the eerie midnight of the plains, and Inferno felt himself being drawn out.  
  
" NO!" he screamed, fighting frantically to stay in.  
  
" Yes!" Siegfried said, pushing at Inferno. He felt his heart lighten, as if a great burden was being lifted. And it was. He felt the bastard leaving. He was going to be free.  
  
[Oh God, thank you] he thought, as blackness suddenly filled his world.  
  
Outside, Ivy opened her eyes, sure she would see Nightmare standing before her and hear Inferno's laughter, immune to the pendant's power and causing her hopes to crash. What she did see caused her eyes to open wide in surprise.  
  
The dark over the plains was almost totally complete. Kilik's pendant drew in all energy, all light. In the small, bowl-shaped depression she and all the others stood in, it was as dark as midnight during the new moon, where nothing but the stars shone in the sky. If anyone had gazed down from the sky at that time, they would have seen a dark spot, like a blemish or mole, on the plains that spread in a circle half a mile all around. There was no slow fading into light around it, no area of gray; the darkness just stopped at a certain point, as if hitting a wall. The plains continued to be bright with sunlight all around it.  
  
The darkness around Nightmare began to shimmer, as if in a heat wave. And with a scream that rent the air and chilled the heart, Inferno was stripped from Siegfried's mind, in a fervor of flame and madness, metal and pain. The body of Nightmare was torn away like a suit of clothes, and below it, wearing his old armor (although a few holes were torn in it, and his right armor and gauntlet were gone) stood Siegfried. He collapsed, breathing hard, to his hands and knees. Inferno lay on the ground, grabbing it and trying to avoid being drawn into the darkness.  
  
Ivy saw Siegfried and her concentration faltered. The dark star in her hand slowly faded away, and light returned to the plains. She dropped the pendant and ran forward to Siegfried. She grabbed him in a hug, and he returned it, hugging her as hard as he could.  
  
" Siegfried!" she cried, and tears came to her eyes. He was back in her arms. Against all logic and chance, he was back. She felt she would burst with joy.  
  
" Ivy," he whispered, crying too. He was pure once more, alone in his mind...  
  
The moment they shared was broken by Inferno. The demon stood up, and his fire blazed around him. His metal claws clicked together.  
  
" How touching," he mocked. " But, I must interfere. Time to die!"  
  
So saying, he rushed forward, claws shining in the sun, death proceeding before him. 


	7. A Father's Last Requiem

Hello, fellow SC fans. I've been playing Soul Caliber II a lot lately, and I'm impressed. I'm the kind of guy who enjoys stories in games, regardless of the type of game, and SC II is perfect in this regard. I'm dedicating this first section to Namco for this wonderful game. Thank you, Namco!  
  
And now, for the reviewers:  
  
Sabriel45- Hey, write more long reviews. I like them infinitely better than short ones :). And about the "innocent" part- it was intentional. It gets explained this chapter. And as for Sophitia, her problem gets explained in the prequel I'm going to write for this.  
  
And the last bit, the part about Kilik and his Christian musings, that gets explained in the prequel as well. I probably should have started the prequel beforehand, but this fic hijacked my mind first and demanded to be written. I've literally written the "after" before the "before" in this fic.  
  
Okay, everyone. Here's the big thing: this is the last chapter. BUT, the prequel will be arriving soon enough. The prequel's title is " Walking in Dream", and will detail Siegfried and Ivy's quest across Europe and Asia. I don't exactly follow SC canon here, since Raphael will join, but I think it makes more sense. After all, what the hell was he doing in SC II? Besides, you all have probably realized by now that I'm not *that* into SC canon :).  
  
Enough of my rambling. It's...  
  
"SHOWTIME!"  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
A Father's Last Requiem   
  
Inferno rushed forward, each step of the flaming monstrosity rending the ground and causing patches of grass to spout in brief flames before dying. Inferno's claws glittered in the sunlight of the field (returned, now that Ivy had dropped Kilik's pendant) as they cut through the air, singing a death song as the wind rushed over them. The blow was perfectly aimed to slice through Ivy and Siegfried both. Although the two warriors were getting up, neither had time to defend themselves.  
  
Kilik's staff, twirling end-over-end, struck Inferno's hand and knocked him off-balance. Taking the chance, Ivy snapped out the Snake Sword, catching Inferno's legs and jerking him off his feet. The demon shrieked as he hit the ground face-first. Ivy, her sword's chain links wrapped about his feet, lifted him up and threw the demon across the field. She concentrated, and the Valentine wrapped itself about Inferno tighter, slicing into his demonic flesh. Inferno screamed again, and suddenly Ivy felt the Snake Sword suddenly grow hot, so hot that it branded the flesh of her palm with a rose, the symbol she'd carved on the Snake Sword's handle in memory of her father. Yelling in pain, she dropped her sword. Cut off from it's master's will, the sword relinquished it's hold on Inferno and reformed a sword. Inferno got up, and a fireball appeared in his claws. He flung it at Ivy, who was shaking her hand to get rid of the burning, stinging pain in it.  
  
Siegfried, who found that his body didn't respond quite the way it should (an afteraffect of the change back to his normal body from his demonic one), leapt at Ivy. The act occurred a second after the thought, and the normally quick reflexes that would have carried them both out of danger responded too slowly. He tackled Ivy, knocking her out of the way, but the fireball caught him on the back of his right shoulder. Pain flared in his mind, and he rolled over, trying to extinguish the unholy, living flame. It licked at his armor, trying to get closer to the skin. The plate glowed red as the fire heated it up. Siegfried rolled away, teeth clenched against the pain.  
  
Kilik, who had ran after his staff, ran at Inferno. He struck at the demon with the pole end of his staff, thrusting quickly, almost like a fencer. It brought to mind a memory of Raphael, a friend he'd met in France on his first journey with Ivy and Siegfried. He wondered where his friend was now. He was in Asia now, along with Mitsurgi, Taki, and Xianghua, trying to find Soul Calibur. He hoped he was allright.  
  
Inferno interrupted his musings by grabbing the end of the Kali-Yuga. Kilik, surprised that anyone could grab the staff when he was moving it that fast, was picked up and thrown through the air over Inferno's head. He hit the ground hard, letting go of his staff. Inferno, who still had the other end, proceeded to beat him with it. Kilik rolled, trying to dodge his own staff, and hoped that Ivy or Siegfried could help him. It was taking all he had to simply avoid getting brained by the Kali-Yuga.  
  
Ivy recovered from getting tackled, and glanced worriedly at Siegfried. He was finishing putting the fire out, and when he saw her looking at him, he made a motion with his hand to help Kilik. She nodded, and grabbed the Snake Sword. The handle was cool now, though Ivy would always bear a burn scar shaped like a rose from it. She snapped the sword toward Inferno, it's links separating into multiple edges of death. They flew out from her right side, shrieking out towards the right claw of Inferno, hoping to grab it and jerk the Kali-Yuga out of his grasp.  
  
Inferno, who had heard the sword unlink, ducked at the last second. The sword flew over him, glittering like a gem in the sun, and Inferno swung his left hand upwards in a backhand swing. The blow was aimed directly at one of the chains, and the sharp edges of Inferno's hellish claws cut through it. Over half the Snake Sword flew off into the plains, it's momentum carrying it far off into the grass. What was left of it returned to Ivy, and she stared at it, mute. It had taken her years to create, and in a single second it was undone. What she had left was little more than a dagger. She glared at Inferno, who had returned his attention to Kilik, who had gotten up in the meantime. Kilik, weaponless, faced off with Inferno. He leapt forward with a flying kick, and Inferno seemed to... blink out of existence. Kilik flew past the spot where Inferno had been, and then Inferno reappeared as suddenly as he had left. His claw hand grabbed the back of Kilik's shirt, and the young monk was slammed into the ground. Inferno, grabbing his neck, lifted him high in the air, choking him. Kilik kicked him in the face, causing flames to spout out behind Inferno, and Inferno yelled, throwing Kilik into the ground. Kilik lay there, passed out. Inferno pitched the Kali-Yuga onto the monk's unconscious form, then turned his attention to Ivy. Ivy rushed him, her newly-shortened sword before her, and tried to stab him. She was no match for the demon without her sword, and she staggered backwards from a backhand swing. She grabbed her face where Inferno had struck, then cried out when Inferno kicked her in the stomach. She lay on the ground, dazed, and Inferno lifted his taloned foot to crush her lungs.  
  
Siegfried, having finally put the fire out, ran towards Inferno and tackled him. Inferno was pushed back, and then seeing who it was, laughed. He grabbed Siegfried, who was attempting to wrestle him, and lifted him into the air.  
  
" So pitiful. You think to destroy me, Siegfried?" Inferno laughed, then tossed Siegfried to the ground. He did it without his usual strength, though; he wanted to enjoy this. Siegfried had been a very big problem to Inferno, and Inferno meant to make him pay for it. Siegfried, struggling to get up, was stopped by Inferno's foot on his chest. Inferno laughed, a sound that Siegfried would never forget: the sound of hundreds screaming, the sound of every soul that Inferno had corrupted both shrieking and laughing at the same time. It chilled the former mercenary, and he lay on the ground, shaking with fear. Few things truly scared Siegfried, but that laughter...  
  
" Siegfried, how can you destroy me? We are one, you and I." Inferno leaned closer to Siegfried, the flaming skull that was his face edging closer to Siegfried's shaking face. " You killed your own father... You can blame it on me, but really, I didn't make you do anything. I merely took what was in you- the dark in you- and made it real. The desire was there. I just provided the means to make that desire reality." Chuckling and then laughing out loud, Inferno reared his head back, shrieking his laughter to the sky. " Oh, pitiful, pitiful boy! To think that you hoped to destroy me!" More hellish laughter. Siegfried thought he'd go mad with it, and start laughing and shrieking alongside the demon. " You can't! You're lost, boy, a damned soul! You," and Inferno stomped with his foot, causing burning agony in Siegfried's chest," are just" another stomp, " like", and another blow, " me!"  
  
Inferno punctuated this last word by stepping off Siegfried and grabbing his throat. He lifted him up, still chuckling. Siegfried felt blackness closing in all around him, covering his vision.  
  
And then, as he began to fall into darkness, he heard a voice.  
  
His father's. Frederick's.  
  
" Son."  
  
Siegfried turned in the darkness, searching.  
  
" Father?"  
  
He knew it now- he had died. His father had come to avenge his patricide. He was going to drag Siegfried to hell for his crimes...  
  
" Son, I never blamed you. Remember that."  
  
" What? Father? Where are you..?"  
  
" I can't talk long, my son. But just remember, that everyone can redeem themselves. That everyone can lift themselves off the ground, and hold to their honor..."  
  
" Father?!?"  
  
" Take up your sword, son! Lift yourself past the veil of old sins and memories, and hope for a new day! Make your stand in the rain!"  
  
And then, in the darkness that lies between life and death, Siegfried felt a hand press a familiar, comforting object in his hand.  
  
The handle of Requiem.  
  
" What? Impossible! Requiem is..was.."  
  
His father's voice spoke again, and it brought with it old and comforting memories; the smell of a good fire in the chimney of their old home, the warmth of love, the smell of oil as he and his father polished their swords and talked...  
  
" My son, Requiem is only broken in your world. Here, in this place, it has never been broken, and never will be, so long as you hold strong. Go, now, my son... back towards life and the woman you love... Make your stand in the rain."  
  
Siegfried felt things rushing past him, and he caught glimpses of them as he fell through dream and nightmare, rushing towards reality...  
  
A glittering mirror, shining in the dark...  
  
A man, back turned, sitting on a hill, his red hair and cloak swaying in the breeze...  
  
A cobbled-stone floor, covered by people beyond counting, some groveling in the dirt, and others with their faces lifted towards the pouring rain, not an umbrella among them, singing and shouting in the rain...  
  
And as he fell, he saw his father one last time. He was standing in the rain, his gaze turned upwards. And he was smiling.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
In the physical world, Inferno had finished choking Siegfried to death and had tossed him to the ground. He had to admit it was the most satisfying kill he had made in a long time. He kicked the body, feeling triumphant. Ivy, who had recovered from Inferno's kick, got up, and looking at Siegfried's body with horrified eyes, screamed. She got up, ignoring the pain in her side, and rushed Inferno. Inferno grabbed her, laughing and chuckling. His hand turned into a tentacle of flame, and it wrapped around her struggling, kicking form.  
  
" So sorry. I'd meant to kill you first, and spare you the pain. It must be so sad for you," and here he laughed, and even in her rage and sorrow Ivy felt fear, " to go all this way, hoping to save him, manage to find me, and..." here he paused, sweeping his free hand out for a mockingly dramatic effect, " at the end, finally free him, only to have him killed not three minutes later. Rather anti-climatic, I must say. But infinitely satisfying!"  
  
He prepared to crush her, and at that second Siegfried opened his eyes. Inferno, feeling a life that shouldn't have been there awaken behind him, turned in time to see Siegfried sit up. Siegfried reached to his back, to the place Requiem used to hang, and although to Siegfried he simply grabbed the handle, Inferno saw differently. Siegfried's hand went past his shoulder into nothingness. Blue ripples passed about his hand in the air, like he was sticking it into water. His hand then reappeared, and in it he grasped Requiem. Inferno, for one of the first times in his long, unholy life, was stunned speechless. He'd broken Requiem a long time ago, when he took Siegfried over again in Asia. How could it be in his hands here? He'd burned all the pieces away! Ivy, for her part, was completely dumbfounded. She sat on the ground as Inferno's tentacle melted away, trying to figure out what was happening. It had been too sudden, too quick, for her to comprehend it.  
  
Siegfried, seeing the stunned Inferno, took his chance and swung Requiem. The sword whistled the air, and it's massive edge slashed through the flaming tentacle wrapped about Ivy. It split in half, cut as neatly as if it were nothing but paper. Inferno screamed, and staggered backwards. He'd never felt pain like this before.  
  
Glaring at Siegfried and grasping the burning end where his hand had been ([Why won't it reform?] Inferno wondered agonizingly) Inferno said, " How can you be alive? I just killed you! And that sword... how can it still exist? I burned it away, burned it to nothingness!"  
  
Siegfried stood up, shouldering Requiem as he did. " You don't get it, do you? You said we're the same. But we're not. You have no choice but to be evil. It's your nature. But I have a choice. I can be evil or good..."  
  
Inferno, his demonic mission (which, simply put, was to corrupt souls) taking over, chuckled and said, " What choice? You killed your father! How can you-"  
  
Interrupting him, Siegfried nodded and said, " I've done a lot of evil things with these hands. Things that could damn my soul and send me to hell. But even I have a chance at redemption! There's always hope, always a chance to stand in the rain again! Until death, no one's path is set in stone! No one's life is decided by fate... And now you die, demon!"  
  
This last was yelled at Inferno, and Siegfried leaped, Requiem clasped behind his head. Inferno raised his good claw up, hoping to gut Siegfried before he could reach him. But at the last second, Inferno felt a hand on his arm, an incredibly strong hand, and thought he saw a man for a second, a man who strongly resembled Siegfried- whatever it was, his arm was shoved downward, and the claw went down as well.  
  
Siegfried swung Requiem down with all his might. A thunderous sound was heard in the air. The massive blade swung upward into the air and seemed to hang there for a second before crashing down into Inferno. The demon was torn completely in half. His foul essence was sliced apart by the edge of Requiem- an edge that before was of steel, and now was of silver. Inferno died that day, underneath a shining sun, standing in the plains surrounding a small port town in Spain, killed by a man who was supposedly dead who wielded a sword that no longer existed. Such is the fate of evil. Inferno screamed only once, and then his body dissipated into flames that blew away with the breeze.  
  
As Inferno's foul energy began to drift away, the Soul Edge, lying forgotten in the dirt, glowed red. The flames of Inferno's power were drawn into it, and the eye opened and gazed madly at Siegfried, seeming to smile. It had taken Inferno's power, the power of it's creator, and had grown even stronger. It seemed to laugh.  
  
Looking around and gasping, Siegfried looked at Ivy. He tried to grin- a hard job, since his throat was still sore from Inferno's choking.  
  
" Hey... honey. How... you been?"  
  
She smiled, and ran forward to him. She grabbed him and uncharacteristically began weeping. Siegfried had seen her cry only once before. He had joined her then, and joined her now.  
  
" Siegfried." she choked out.  
  
" Ivy." He held her, Requiem dropping from his hands. The sword fell, and lay there in the grass, glittering softly. On the blade, a smiling man was reflected, a man who resembled Siegfried. The sky and clouds were visible through his transparent skin, and he turned away, walking towards the sun. Rain could be heard, faintly, in the distance.  
  
************************************************************************  
  
The next day.  
  
The party had stopped in a village in spain called Mercha. They rested at the inn, and considered their next move. They were in a seemingly normal hotel room, but two things were out-of-place: the enormous sword that lay on the table, gazing about the room madly with the eye in it's hilt, and the woman who lay tied up on the bed. This woman would occasionally curse and mumble in another language, which some might recognize as Greek.  
  
Siegfried sat on the edge of the bed he and Ivy shared, Requiem standing hilt up next to him. Ivy, who hadn't left his side at all, sat next to him. They had their arms around each other.  
  
Kilik stood on the other side of the room, holding the Kali-Yuga. Occasionally he would glance at the prone and tied-up form of Sophitia. Even tied up he worried she'd try to kill him. He'd tied her up with some rope he bought, and then he'd put her broken arm in a cast (she had been awake by then, and tried to bite him while he did it- he finally had Siegfried hold her head back to avoid losing any fingers). Apparently Sophitia didn't take defeat very well. She was mostly docile now, still recovering. Her head ached where Kilik had hit her. Her old wounds hurt her as well; being near the almost-restored Soul Edge was causing the wounds she received destroying it's brother to hurt her. The monk in Kilik wanted to help, but as Siegfried had said, " That bitch is crazy." Kilik wanted to stay at staff's length from her tied up, and when she was released he planned to be very far away.  
  
" So, what do we do now?" Siegfried said. He looked at the Soul Edge, and felt none of the old desire to pick it up. With Inferno dead, much of the sword's intelligence had went as well. It had lost it's power to entice intelligent beings, which was a big help to them all. Kilik had been afraid he'd go mad and try to kill them all again, but luck was with them.  
  
" The Omega Sword was destroyed," Ivy said, glancing at Kilik, " so we can't use it to get rid of the damn thing. Guess we'll have to go to Greece."  
  
" Greece? Why should we go there? Her family is there, and I doubt that they're going to be happy I beat the shit out of Sophitia." Kilik shook his head. " Course, I wouldn't have to do that if she hadn't tried to kill Ivy..."  
  
Sophitia, lying on the bed, turned her head and said nothing. She was infuriated with Kilik for both being a man and defeating her (something she thought would never happen), but also very, very scared. In her heart she had begun doubting her gods. If they were real, how could Kilik have destroyed the Omega Sword so easily? It was indestructible! How...?  
  
" In Greece," Ivy said, tactly ignoring Kilik's comments, " lies the forge where the Omega Sword was made. We should find Sophitia's husband, Rothion, and see if he can create another one. It's the quickest way."  
  
" What about the Soul Calibur?" Kilik said, trying to steer the conversation away from Greece. He did not want to go there. Beating Sophitia was hard; having all of Greece after him for defeating it's hero would be worse. " We could wait until Raphael and the others returned."  
  
She shook her head. " No good. We don't know if there still alive, much less if they will find the Soul Calibur. We need to destroy it now, before somebody hears about it and tries to take it from us." She mentally added that she least of all wanted to deal with Cervantes; despite letting her go last time, he would attack the next time he met with the Soul Edge and heard it's siren song. She didn't want to face her own father, alive or dead, ever again.  
  
Kilik sighed. " All right. I guess we should go to Greece. Although this will probably end with me as the most wanted man in all of Europe. Let's go." He picked up the Kali-Yuga.  
  
Siegfried nodded, and letting go of Ivy, picked up Requiem. He wrapped the Soul Edge in the black cloth they'd gotten for it in town. It's eye gazed at him as he did so, mocking him. It knew more than they did, it seemed.  
  
[Before this is over I'll send you to hell,] Siegfried thought to it.  
  
The eye gazed back.  
  
- There will be a sequel, written when I'm done with the prequel. The sequel will be " Core of Reality", and details the end of the quest. Send me reviews! The first chapter of the prequel will arrive soon. It starts exactly one month after Siegfried and Ivy's battle at Castle Travens. 


End file.
